The Metropolitan Government of Tokyo has introduced a virtual Tokyo Metaverse on Roblox to promote the city as a tourist destination.
The interactive portal, “HELLO! TOKYO FRIENDS”, uses AR photography within the leading immersive platform Roblox to provide users with a lifelike sightseeing experience of Tokyo.
“MODERN TOKYO” is a cityscape based on Tokyo’s iconic landmarks, such as Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Station, Tokyo National Museum, Odaiba Area, and more, while also hosting a “TREASURE HUNT” activity to learn more about Japan’s capital city.
In a press release by the Tokyo Government, it summarises the capabilities and purpose of the app: “This world offers a variety of functions and environments for users to make friends with people living in Japan and people from all over the world, introduce Japanese culture and guide them around Tokyo, and interact with each other.
“We hope that the interactions on HELLO! TOKYO FRIENDS will help to promote Tokyo’s appeal as a tourist city and foster Tokyo fans!”
Through the “TOKYO HUNT!” web app, your smartphone can become a gateway to explore an interactive version of Tokyo.
Users will be able to add a ‘hololive friends with u’ plushie to attach to their Roblox avatar by completing Quests within the world.
By visiting one of the nine checkpoints, users can collect ‘Emblems’ and – for every three emblems collected – they can unlock rewards in the form of unique Roblox items. Four of these checkpoints allow you to capture photos using an AR camera with characters from HELLO! TOKYO FRIENDS.
There is also a promotional offer to coincide with the game’s release of collaboration items related to Tokyo Tourism Ambassadors, and VTubers from hololive productions being given away for free.
Tokyo Sightseeing Survey
The launch of HELLO! TOKYO FRIENDS has coincided with the release of the Tokyo’s Current Sightseeing Spots 2024, which gathered answers from 3,000 Tokyo residents aged between 15 to 49 about what they would like to be included within the virtual Tokyo.
When asked about the possible benefits of the new Tokyo Metaverse, respondents were fairly evenly split between making the city known to the world, finding out more about the city itself, and connecting with the rest of the world. This apparently was in line with the expectations of creators.
They were also quizzed about the kinds of interactions they would like to experience with people overseas within the game. The majority of respondents aged 20 and above listed helping people get to know Japanese culture and educating foreigners about the city. Whereas 15 to 19-year-olds were mostly interested in talking about common interests and playing games together.
Elsewhere in the world of Roblox, the Enterprise Metaverse Expo 2024 took place at Cannes Lions earlier this month, which included an announcement from the platform about its strategic programme to grow immersive adverts on the Metaverse.
The programme seeks to boost innovation and build a global ecosystem for immersive advertisements.
